Google Inc, the uncontested leader in Internet services
announced it has shipped its 5 millionth “free” computer, only 14
months after starting up the “Free Computer Program”. The Google
Product Manager, Pierre Lindsely, stated he is overwhelmed by the
success of his project and they are trying very hard to keep up
with demand.

People now have to wait more than three weeks to get their
“G-Tops”, as they have become known as, instead of the three days
when the program started. Pierre Lindsely: “People will wait for
anything if it’s free, so I am not worried that this will impact
the enthusiasm for this product. We are attracting some new
suppliers and we will see the waiting time decrease gradually.” The
free Google computers come with a free broadband connection that
connects only to Google WI-FI hubs (aka as G-Spots). (cont.)

A new application for the iPhone and iTouch allows users to make free phone calls using Skype, Google Talk, ICQ, Yahoo and various other social platforms. It’s called Fring.

Not only can you talk to people for free (you need an internet connection and they also need the application), but it combines all your contacts from the different social networks into one easy to locate place. “Fring leverages your handset’s internet connection to empower you with mobility and availability as never before, integrating all contacts into one searchable buddy list and all your online applications into one ever-growing catalog of services.” By making it easy to contact all of your friends, Fring has in effect taken the next step towards free communication.

On the eve of the election, the FCC approved the use of the wireless spectrum left void by the national switch to digital television (commonly referred to as “white space”) for tech company use.

“The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today adopted a Second Report and Order (Second R&O) that establishes rules to allow new, sophisticated wireless devices to operate in broadcast television spectrum on a secondary basis at locations where that spectrum is open. (This unused TV spectrum is now commonly referred to as television “white spaces”). The rules adopted today will allow for the use of these new and innovative types of unlicensed devices in the unused spectrum to provide broadband data and other services for consumers and businesses.” – FCC Website

Google, a long proponent of developing the strong white space spectrum for wireless internet, is ecstatic. Having lead the fight to free up the white space spectrum with other partners such as Dell, Microsoft and HP, Google must be feeling like they’re on top of the world.

Been wanting to tinker with Augmented Reality? Now you can try it out with your iPhone. Go to Metaio and try out their Augmented Reality iPhone App for free (and unlike the last AR gadget we linked you to, these instructions are in English). You can determine his size, make him run around, even print it out on a holiday card so friends and family can see him. Enjoy!

We’ve thought about it over and over — Why can’t I just take a picture with my eyes? In this latest concept from Mac Funamizu, you can almost do just that.

In this concept, you wear a pair of sunglasses capable of taking photos from the perspective of the user. It tracks the movement of your hands, allowing you to frame the picture, and snaps the photo with a signal from your left eye (being the shutter). Although information on the concept is limited, one assumes that the sunglasses would use the focus of the eye to determine which items the photo will focus on. Reminds me of the movie Strange Days.

Although wildly fantastic, it’s still a product that is capable of existing in the near future. Hand-tracking technology is getting better seemingly every month while the amount of mega-pixels you can cram onto a pinhead is skyrocketing (Ericsson expects to have a cellphone capable of recording HD video by 2012 as well as taking 20 mega-pixel photos). But the one thing we’re learning more and more is that the future of technology isn’t going to be a bunch of specialized devices, but of a single device capable of doing the work of everything else.